To Finding One Another
by samira403
Summary: Luna's scarf always end up with Theo Nott and every time he proves that he is more than meet the eyes. What is it that always seem to draw the lonely, broody Slytherin to find his half in the quiet and wise Ravenclaw?


**Written for The Houses Competition- Round One**

**House: Slytherin**

**Year: Three**

**Category: Standard**

**Prompt: [Object] Parents scarf**

**Word count: 1961**

* * *

The scarf was of an unpretentious grey wool, soft and slightly worn-in, long enough to wrap around a small child like a blanket. It had tiny pearls sewn into it, in the shape of snowflakes, because winter was Pandora Lovegood's favourite season. She wrapped her precious little girl in her favourite scarf and both set off for her "laboratory" attached to their cottage.

After that one fateful night, the scarf became the closest and only link Luna had to her mother.

* * *

At promptly eight a.m., Theo stepped into his office and just froze. There was an innocuous grey scarf hung on his coatstand. He knew that scarf and the girl it belonged to. He had spent quite some time trying not to think about her in the last six years.

Slowly he removed his coat and gloves and set them on his desk. His office was in truth just a small box, squashed between the entrance and the start of the Aurors' cubicles. There was not much to it; a desk, two chairs, a coatstand and a bookshelf on which stood his spell manuals and one Thunderbird feather. The office was so sparsely decorated that his gaze eventually returned to the scarf. It unsettled him in a manner he could never have expected.

"Fixating on an object won't make the owner turn up," a calm voice teased from his doorway.

Theo buried his hands in his trousers' pockets as he turned to face his colleague.

"Is she here Potter?"

"Yeah, and I thought you'd be happier that she's back on British soil," the Auror said as he walked in to stand next to his friend.

Theo studied the tight lines on Harry's face and felt the thrum of anxiety in his stomach.

"Is she in trouble?"

"If she is, we'll take care of it. Right now, she's in a meeting at the Magical Creatures Department. According to the guys who were on duty this morning. Mathilda Grimblehawk and Amos Diggory came to escort her from your office just before seven. No updates yet."

* * *

Luna wished she hadn't forgotten her scarf in Theo's office. She had come to accept that she could not manage any stressful situation without it, especially her impatience and disbelief right now.

She had been scared when she had received the urgent summon back to England. She had left China almost immediately, arriving at the Ministry at five in the morning escorted to wait in the Aurors' office. There, she had been stunned and curious to see Theodore Nott inscribed on a plaque.

His small office was clean, tidy, practical but yet, impersonal; just like the boy she'd known in Hogwarts, who'd never experienced the warmth of a home in his life.

That's why she had been totally caught off-guard by the Thunderbird feather resting prominently on the middle shelf of a small bookcase. It still shined as golden as the day she had found it in Arizona and had owled it to him. She had been restless with the need to reconnect with him at that time. Upon realising that letters were not her forte, she had hoped the feather would work and encourage him to follow his dreams of becoming a spell-master like his childhood hero, Chadwick Boot.

'And he had,' a proud smile flitted across the young woman's face. 'He was now spell specialist for the law enforcement department.'

She had felt a moment of undiluted happiness for what he'd accomplished. She had truly longed to find Theo after the war, if only to thank him for what he'd done for her.

_She had been alone at her father's bedside at St Mungo's for days, battling the fear of losing another parent and the PTSD when an owl had flown in, with a package that contained her mother's scarf. She knew it had to have been from him. Theo was the only one who knew how special this scarf was to her. Somehow, he'd found a way to look for her forgotten luggage in Hogwarts and send this to her._

_She had cried for hours, wrapped in the soft grey wool, finally letting out some of the tension. Selfishly, she had wished he had come in person, to wrap her in the scarf and tell her that everything would be fine. Nonetheless, with the scarf breaking the veil of misery and pain that had clouded her head, she had come to terms that all of them needed time and healing. So, she had tightened her grip on the wool and let the comfort and peace from her mother's memory lull her into her first real sleep._

* * *

As soon as he was alone in his office again, Theo unhooked the scarf and took it with him to his desk. The first time he'd held it had been eight years ago, back in Hogwarts when he had been just a boy and Luna, just a girl. She had been wandering the dungeons in her pyjamas in the dead of winter looking for the scarf and he had been walking off a rather distasteful conversation with his father.

He had fully intended to walk past her but she had stopped him with a brush of her cold hand on his arm.

_"Hello Theodore," she said in that soft lilting voice of hers. "Would you know where your fellow housemates may have hidden my scarf please? It's grey, quite like the mist, and pearls…"_

_"Piss off Lovegood," he spat brusquely, attempting to go around her._

_She tightened her grip on his wrist and looked at him straight in the eyes, with a storm glinting eerily in her silver eyes._

_"I sincerely apologise for troubling you but I would much appreciate a little help."_

_"If it's a scarf you want, here, take mine and keep it," he exclaimed, making to unwind his scarf to give to her. _

_Adamantly, she persisted._

_"Unfortunately, it is my scarf that I need, quite urgently. I know the Nargles did not have anything to do with its disappearance. They would have sensed how much I needed it and would have returned it by now. They are not malicious unlike other creatures."_

_"Hey Loony, if you want my help, I would advise against insulting my housemates. Anyway, why don't you find the Bloody Baron? He's the one around here with a weird soft spot for Ravenclaws."_

_"Theo please," she insisted in a tiny voice. "I need to find my scarf."_

_He was stumped. No one outside of his house had ever talked to him for so long, let alone ask for his help. Lost and not liking the sensation, he whirled around, stormed back to the Common Room and he would forever thank Salazar for that moment. _

_"Merlin's saggy …," he cursed, swiping the grey scarf that had been haphazardly thrown across a foot stool in the Common Room._

_He had gone the halfway through the entire corridor when he caught voices coming from the Party Hall. _

_"It was my mother's," Luna's soft voice was saying. "It was the last thing I have of her."_

_Theo moved the drapes and saw the Bloody Baron looking down morosely on a shivering Luna Lovegood._

_"If it is that precious, why did you leave it behind for others to take?"_

_"I…Hagrid taught us about Thestrals today. I am the only one in my class who saw them because of my mother. I was wearing that scarf when she died," she explained, hands balled to her sides. "It became too much; I was reliving her death in my mind. Not even the Wrackspurts could make me forget."_

As soon as she had said those words, Theo had known he'd never be able to turn his back on her again. He had seen his mother die of a horrible fall, had clutched at her while the life bled out of her. The pain and helplessness that it had brought him had been so unbearable that he had completely isolated himself.

_He glanced at the scarf in his hands and carefully re-arranged it on his arms. He scourgified it for good measure and cleared his throat._

_Luna turned to look at him expectantly as if already knowing he had been there in the shadows. The bloody Baron glided off, after a sad look at Luna. _

_"You found it," she said gratefully as she extended her hand. _

_Theo clutched the scarf tighter, not believing what he was about to do. He reached out to brush her long blond hair to her back and very gently, he wrapped the scarf around her like a cape. He saw her eyes well up and shook his head. _

_"Don't say thank you, Lovegood. Just keep it safe and close."_

* * *

"Theo?"

He raised his head and for the first time in his life, he felt speechless in front of a woman.

She had grown to be even more beautiful than he had pictured. She wore her hair to her shoulders now and her face was even more defined. Years of travelling added some bulk to her frame that made her look less delicate. Yet, her eyes glowed with the same wisdom and clarity that they did when he had last seen her.

He rose from behind his desk to meet her in her in the centre of the room. His office had never felt smaller than it did now. Her attention was solely on him and he scrambled to find something witty, even intelligent to say.

Instead, he settled for "How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you. Why do you look worried?"

He chuckled at her usual directness, glad to see that the woman was not such a stranger after all. Relaxed, he allowed himself to ask;

"Is everything okay? Potter couldn't find out why you had been summoned so urgently."

Luna cocked her head to the side, yet allowed him the small talk.

"The Ministry has detained an illegally imported Nundu which is a 5X creature. They want to kill it and need as many professional magical creature handlers to help subdue it."

"And they threatened you to come back for that?"

"Yes, somehow they were under the impression that I may be more amenable under duress."

"So?" He prompted, trying to brace himself for the news of her departure.

"We will not be killing it, Theo," she sighed. "Amos and I, with the help of Rolf Scamander, would be returning it to Africa in an hour. They are trying to find a Healer to accompany us as well."

Theo bore down on the disappointment. He had hoped that this time he might get the chance to know her better. Salazar knew that half of him already accepted that she was the one for him; with her quiet understanding, warmth and patience. He had wished that he might help her alleviate some of the pain she still held on and always be around to help her when she needed.

Hope flared in Luna when she saw disappointment seize Theo. He was taller now, broad-shouldered and leaner. He had the aloofness that surrounded the boy and the man stood more confidently now. Yet, the news of her departure had made his shoulders drop.

'Could it be that her love might not be unrequited then?' she wondered.

And so, she stepped up to him and held onto his hands that gripped her mother's scarf. She gazed at him happily and saw surprise fill his eyes.

"I won't be needing a scarf in Africa. Why don't you hold on to it? Somehow, it always finds a way to bring us together."

Theo untangled a hand and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Luna…," he started hesitantly before she kissed him, grey scarf between them, sealing a promise for after.


End file.
